U.S. drone attack kills 20 in Pakistan's tribal area

ISLAMABAD, June 8 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 people were killed Wednesday when U.S. drones carried out a strike in an outskirt village of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal area in northwest Pakistan, local sources said.

According to sources, five U.S. pilotless fighters were hovering before four missiles were fired into a compound and two at a vehicle in the Shawal area of North Waziristan, a militant insurgent tribal area lying at some 40 km away from the Afghan boarder.

On Monday, three such attacks targeting the same area and the adjacent South Waziristan tribal area killed at least 21 people, mostly believed to be Punjabi Taliban.

The U.S. recently changed the target of drone strikes. Earlier most of the drones fired in North Waziristan but after the unconfirmed media reports saying that the Pakistani authorities have agreed to launch a military operation in North Waziristan in coalition with the U.S., the target of drone was shifted to South Waziristan.

Last Friday night, a U.S. drone strike killed a top militant leader Ilyas Kashmiri along with eight other militants. Kashmiri was wanted by the U.S. and Pakistan. He was behind the last month brazen attack on a navy air station in Karachi, which killed 10 Pakistani navy personnel.

The latest U.S. drone strike is the 37th of its kind in Pakistan in 2011. To date, a total of 284 people including women and children have reportedly been killed since the advent of 2011. Most of the victims of drone strikes are believed to be suspected militants.